Bosnia’s Defence Ministry and the Armed Forces of BiH are hosting the NATO Conference of Strategic Military Partners MSPC 24, which opened Monday and will last until April 12 in Sarajevo.

The conference, which is organized by NATO, is an opportunity to exchange opinions on important strategic issues of NATO partners as well as to improve military cooperation.

This is the second important gathering when it comes to NATO, which means that BiH has a close partnership with this organization, BiH Defence Minister Zukan Helez said.

“We recently celebrated the 75th anniversary of the existence of the strongest military organization in the world. The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina have made great progress in terms of cooperation with NATO. NATO representatives have also noticed our progress, and at the spring session we expect the candidate status, and soon full membership, regardless of all political disagreements”, said Helez during his address to the media.

The partnership between the Alliance and Bosnia and Herzegovina has lasted since 2006, with cooperation in numerous areas, such as education, training, equipping, and evaluation, which is a prerequisite for multinational functioning and support for peace, Gojko Knezevic, the Chief of the Joint Staff of the BiH Armed Forces said.

As for the process concerning NATO, these are “top political issues”, for which the BiH Presidency is responsible, Knezevic said and added that the latest report states that BiH has intensified cooperation with NATO, but that this does not mean membership in the Alliance.

The Deputy Chief of Staff for Partnership in NATO also noted the great progress Bosnia made since 2006, and recalled that there are many problems in the world, with an emphasis on security and cybercrime, which can only be fought together.